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This paper aims to present a picture of the past and the present status of the Distance Education College (DEC) of East China Normal University (ECNU). It describes what the DEC has achieved in each phase, and probes into some essential problems that the DEC has attempted to solve.

This article provides a comprehensive description of the development of the DEC by following a case study method.

The DEC goes through three stages. In the first phase, a teacher‐focused policy and disciplined management are formed. In the second phase, a quality‐first policy is emphasized, and two training modes are developed: the human‐centered management mode and the trainee‐oriented training mode. In the third phase, the DEC initiates further innovation and uses a new platform.

ECNU has witnessed and participated in the development of modern distance education in China. It remains successful in developing distance education. The effort made by the DEC well showcases the overall development and growth of modern distance education in China.

This article presents the development of the DEC and will help readers understand the developmental process of distance education colleges in China.

Social development is the ultimate goal of every nation, and climate change is a major stumbling block. Climate Risk Index has documented several climate change events with their devastations in terms of lives lost and economic cost. This study aims to link the climate change and renewable energy with the social progress of extreme climate affected countries.

This research used the top 50 most climate-affected countries of the decade and estimated the impact of climate risk on social progress with moderation effects of renewable energy and technology. Several competing panel data models such as quantile regression, bootstrap quantile regression and feasible generalized least square are used to generate robust estimates.

The results confirm that climate hazards obstruct socioeconomic progress, but renewable energy and technology can help to mitigate the repercussion. Moreover, improved institutions enhance the social progress of nations.

Government should improve the institutional quality that enhances their performance in terms of Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption to increase social progress. In addition, society should use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels to avoid environmental degradation and health hazards. Innovation and technology also play an important role in social progress and living standards, so there should be free hand to private business research and development, encouraging research institutes and universities to come forward for innovation and research.

The ultimate goal of all human struggle is to have progress that facilitates human beings to uplift their living standard. One of the best measures that can tell us about a nation’s progress is Social Progress Index (SPI), and one of many factors that can abruptly change it is the climate; so this study is an attempt to link the relationship among these variables and also discuss the situation where the impact of climate can be reduced.

Although social progress is an important concept of today’s economics discussion, relatively few studies are using the SPI to measure social well-being. Similarly, there is consensus about the impact of climate on people, government and crops but relatively less study about its overall impact on social progress, so this study attempts to fill the gap about the relationship between social progress and climate change.

The main contribution of this study is the solution for the impact of climate risk. Climate risk is not in human control, and we cannot eliminate it, but we can reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Moderator impact of renewable energy decreases the negative impact of climate change, so there is a need to use more renewable energy to mitigate the bad consequences of climate on social progress. Another moderator is technology; using technology will also mitigate the negative consequences of the climate, so there is a need to facilitate technological advancement.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between emotional experience and symbolic consumption on brand loyalty. The authors also examine the differences in Generation Y consumer behavior through the comparison of Generation Y consumers’ income sources.

A conceptual model was developed to represent the proposed relationships among the related variables. Data from a total of 328 usable surveys were collected from Thai Generation Y consumers. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling analyses.

The study found that emotional experience has a significant and positive effect experience symbolic consumption, symbolic consumption provided a positive effect on brand loyalty.

Time and resources limitation did not allow studying the larger sample. Future research should include more product categories. The sample can be extended to consumers in ASEAN countries to provide more comprehensive insights into consumer perceptions and brand behaviors.

The findings suggest that symbolic consumption is a key motivation to increase brand loyalty when developing marketing strategies for the Generation Y consumers.

This study identifies the components of symbolic consumption in meaning for conspicuous products and provides empirical support for the effect of emotional experience and symbolic consumption on brand loyalty in coffee shop industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Generation Y consumers’ symbolic consumption on brand attitude and purchase intention toward global brands.

A conceptual model has been developed to illustrate the proposed relationships among the related variables. Data from a total of 300 usable surveys were collected from Thai Generation Y consumers. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling analyses.

The study found that Generation Y consumers’ symbolic consumption has a significant and positive effect on brand attitude and purchase intention.

Time and resources limitation did not allow to study the larger sample. Future research should include more product categories and more global brands. Sample can be extended to consumers in ASEAN countries to provide more comprehensive insights into consumer perceptions and brand behaviors toward global brands.

The findings suggest that symbolic consumption is a key motivation to increase purchase intention when developing marketing strategies for the Generation Y consumer.

This study has contributions to symbolic consumption and Generation Y literature combining several important dimensions into a structural model, and examines the relationships among these dimensions.

With the analysis of the causes of corruption, this study aims to investigate specific anti-corruption measures that can be implemented to reform the political system and the social climate of China.

This study examines 97 severe corruption cases of high-ranking officials in China, which occurred between 2012 and 2015. As this insinuates that both institutional and social corruption are major problems in China, the analysis delves into multiple facts of corruption, including different types, four primary underlying causes, and suggestions regarding the implementation of three significant governmental shifts that focus on investigation, prevention tactics and legal regulations.

China’s corruption is not only individual-based but also it has developed into institutional corruption and social corruption. Besides human nature and instinct, the causes of corruption can be organised into four categories, namely, social customs, social transitions, institutional designs and institutional operations. For the removed high-ranking officials, the formation of interest chains was an important underlying cause behind their corruption.

This study makes a significant contribution to the literature because this study provides a well-rounded approach to a complex issue by highlighting the significance of democracy and the rule of law as ways to regulate human behaviour to combat future corruption.

To improve the accuracy of parameter prediction for small-sample data, considering the existence of error in samples, the error circle is introduced to analyze original samples.

The influence of surface roughness on fatigue life is discussed. The error circle can treat the original samples and extend the single sample, which reduces the influence of the sample error.

The S-N curve obtained by the error circle method is more reliable; the S-N curve of the Bootstrap method is more reliable than that of the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method.

The parameter distribution and characteristics are statistically obtained based on the surface roughness, surface roughness factor and intercept constant. The original sample is studied by an error circle and discussed using the Bootstrap and MLE methods to obtain corresponding S-N curves. It provides a more trustworthy basis for predicting the useful life of products.

This study aims to explore the gap between information needs and services for autism in China.

The gap is revealed by investigating the status quo of autism information needs and services. The authors extracted categories and subcategories of information needs through content analysis of academic documents and then supplemented the subcategories through text mining of an online forum. Meanwhile, categories and subcategories of information services were extracted through content analysis of autism websites. Finally, the authors matched the two to explore the gap and designed a quantitative index to measure it.

A total of eight and ten categories of information needs and services are extracted, respectively. In total, six categories of information needs can be partly matched, but nearly half of the subcategories failed. Huge gaps in economic support, sociality and policy mechanisms categories are observed through the quantitative index and medium gaps in social resource services and employment categories while almost no gaps in psychological/emotional counseling, rehabilitation skills training and professional knowledge/information categories.

This study takes a deep insight into the gap between autism information needs and services in China, providing evidences and suggestions for information providers to improve their services. Academic documents and online forum data are adopted to avoid the impact of stigmatization, which provides a multi-source data analysis approach for the information needs of special groups.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential causes of the reduction of cotton cultivation in Shandong Province of China from the perspective of smallholders and notably examine the role of off-farm employment.

This paper extends an integrated behavioral model to analyze the relationship between off-farm employment and cotton cultivation by taking into account farmers’ risk attitudes. A household survey data of 144 Bt cotton farmers in six villages in Linqing County, Shandong Province conducted in 2012 and 2013 is used. A simultaneous equations model is established and further estimated by using three-stage least squares method.

Although the introduction of Bt cotton has promoted the increase in cotton acreage in China from 1999 to 2007, the planting area of cotton has been decreasing since 2007. The results show the significant correlations among risk attitude, off-farm employment, and cotton cultivation. The planting area of cotton is positively correlated with farmers’ willingness to take risk but negatively associated with off-farm employment of family members. The findings imply that the rapid emergence of off-farm labor markets is a major reason for the reduction of cotton acreage in Shandong Province. In the context of the more opportunities of off-farm employment in China, cotton acreage is expected to decrease further.

The findings provide a reasonable explanation for the reduction of cotton cultivation in Shandong. This analysis contributes to a better understanding of the relationships among individual risk attitude, off-farm employment, and agricultural behavior, thereby adding to the literature about the application of the integrated behavioral model.

The purpose of this paper is under the analysis framework of the system theory, analyzing the optimal contract mode of agricultural supply chain to guarantee the stability of agricultural supply chain and the equilibrium of agricultural product market, to analyze the effect of farmers’ risk attitude on the selection of contract modes and to find the way to encourage farmers’ productive effort and to avoid farmers’ hitchhiking behavior, to guarantee the stability of agricultural supply chain.

Under the guidance of the system theory, using the Stackelberg model and the nonlinear programming theory, this paper comparatively analyzes farmers’ effort (productive effort and sales effort), farmers’ income and the stability of agricultural supply system of four types of contract modes between farmers, third-party organizations and market.

First, in the agricultural market, market-type contract cannot maximize farmers’ income. The main reason is that farmers do not have enough ability to avoid market risk and to bargain. Second, for farmers of risk seeking, choosing a market-type contract and secondary-income contract can increase their income. Third, under the fixed-purchase price contract, the hitchhiking behavior would happen. Fourth, when farmers’ productive efforts are the same, farmers’ income under the secondary-income contract is higher than under the fixed-purchase price contract. Because under the secondary-income contract, farmers have the opportunity to obtain the secondary distribution of benefits, farmers’ hitchhiking behavior could be avoided.

Analyzing the contract modes between farmers and the third-party organization in the agricultural market could reduce the influence of price fluctuation, avoid the uncertainty of the relationship between the supply and demand, stimulate the productive effort of farmers and provide theoretical guidance for establishing efficient and stable agricultural supply system.